Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Apr 5;14(4):e078427.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-078427.

Facilitators of and barriers to healthcare providers' adoption of harm reduction in cannabis use: a scoping review protocol

Roula Haddad  1 , Christian Dagenais  2 , Christophe Huynh  3   4 , Jean-Sébastien Fallu  3   5   6
Affiliations

Facilitators of and barriers to healthcare providers' adoption of harm reduction in cannabis use: a scoping review protocol

Roula Haddad et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Introduction: The high prevalence of cannabis use and the potential for negative effects indicate the need for effective prevention strategies and treatment of people who use cannabis. Studies show that harm reduction (HR) in cannabis use is effective in minimising the harmful consequences of the substance. However, health professionals often misunderstand it and resist its adoption due to various obstacles. To our knowledge, there has been no review of the scientific literature on the factors that facilitate or hinder practitioners' adoption of HR in cannabis use. To fill this gap, we aim to identify, through a scoping review, facilitators and barriers to healthcare providers' adoption of HR in cannabis use in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.

Methods and analysis: Our methodology will be guided by the six-step model initially proposed by Arksey and O'Malley (2005). The search strategy will be executed on different databases (Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Web of Science, Embase, Sociological Abstracts, Érudit, BASE, Google Web and Google Scholar) and will cover articles published between 1990 and October 2022. Empirical studies published in French or English in an OECD country and identifying factors that facilitate or hinder healthcare providers' adoption of HR in cannabis use, will be included. Reference lists of the selected articles as well as relevant systematic reviews will be scanned to identify any missed publications by the electronic searches.

Ethics and dissemination: Ethics approval is not required. The results will be disseminated through various activities (eg, publication in peer-reviewed journals, conferences, webinars and knowledge translation activities). The results will also allow us to conduct a future study aiming to develop and implement a knowledge translation process among healthcare practitioners working with youth in Quebec in order to enhance their adoption of HR in cannabis use.

Keywords: Health Services; MENTAL HEALTH; PUBLIC HEALTH; Substance misuse.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

References

    1. Drugs (psychoactive). World Health Organization, Available: https://www.who.int/health-topics/drugs-psychoactive#tab=tab_1 [Accessed 13 Jul 2023].
    1. Adinoff B, Cooper ZD. Cannabis Legalization: progress in harm reduction approaches for substance use and misuse. Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse 2019;45:707–12. 10.1080/00952990.2019.1680683 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Jiloha RC. Prevention, early intervention, and harm reduction of substance use in adolescents. Indian J Psychiatry 2017;59:111–8. 10.4103/0019-5545.204444 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Melamede R. Harm reduction-the Cannabis paradox. Harm Reduct J 2005;2:17. 10.1186/1477-7517-2-17 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fischer B, Robinson T, Bullen C, et al. . Lower-risk Cannabis use guidelines (LRCUG) for reducing health harms from non-medical Cannabis use: A comprehensive evidence and recommendations update. Int J Drug Policy 2022;99:103381:S0955-3959(21)00286-3. 10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103381 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources